


lexicography

by megiaolf



Series: Prompts [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Parent Phan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 11:44:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13926468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megiaolf/pseuds/megiaolf
Summary: Tessa wants to be a lexicographer when she grows up. She totally knows what it means.





	lexicography

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Word of of the day

Phil woke to a small body determinedly climbing over him. He tried and failed to support Tessa’s gangly limbs as she purposefully maneuvered the obstacle course that was his body and settled somewhere behind him between him and Dan. She was too fast and too energetic for him.

He squinted at the clock on the table, it was 8 a.m. He had a small moment of internal panic before remembering it was the weekend and there was no school. He sighed. He was deathly tired and his eyes burned with the exertion of spending days on an end with barely five hours of sleep a night.

He had half a mind to wake Dan up and tell him to deal with it, but there was no point in both of them being tired. As unfair as it was sometimes, it was better to let him sleep than deal with a grumpy and sleep deprived Dan on top of a grumpy baby. He could always sleep when Dan woke up and took pity on him.

He turned around, careful not to squish Tessa and pulled her into his arms. He tucked her hair behind her ear and patted her head, mentally willing her to go back to sleep.

Tessa complied for a few blissful seconds. He was hoping for a half an hour more of shut-eye, so he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. It worked sometimes. If both he and Dan pretended to be asleep, she’d just get bored (or mimic them, he couldn’t really tell) and fall back asleep.

He was just teetering on the edge of sleep and wakefulness when she started fidgeting, pushing her tiny feet into his shins and elbowing him in the ribs. He let out a long suffering sigh.

“Morning baby.” He smiled down at her.

Tessa reciprocated with an adorable gap-toothed grin. He poked her nose and she giggled. She then very seriously put her finger on his mouth and shushed him. She pointed behind her at Dan who was fast asleep. He had his arm thrown over his face and was letting out small breathy snores. He looked very peaceful.

Phil envied him right now. He suddenly wished he slept on the other side of the bed, away from the door, so that Dan would be the one being woken up when she inevitably tumbled into their bed every morning.

“Right. We mustn’t wake daddy.” He said in an affected whisper.

Tessa nodded solemnly before dissolving into more giggles. Phil shook his head at her in mock disappointment which led to her clutching her stomach in laughter. He pushed his face into his pillow to hide his smile while Tessa’s small body shook the whole bed.

When she’d finally managed to calm down, she turned back to him, looked up at him very seriously with her big green eyes and told him, “I want to be a lexicographer when I grow up.”

Phil stared at her. He swore he was going to get whiplash one of these days. He never knew what was going in that strange and wonderful mind of hers. He could never keep up with her trains of thought. He empathised with his parents in a way. He’d been the exact same growing up, according to his mother. Strange and wonderful.

“What’s a lexicographer?” He blinked at her.

“It’s someone who compiles dictionaries, duh Pa. I thought grownups were supposed to know this stuff.” Tessa rolled her eyes.

She was at the age where everything she was learning was supposed to be common knowledge and anyone who didn’t know anything she did, even if it was extremely obscure and she’d only learned it the day before, was dumb. She’d also use really big words she’d learned in everyday conversations to make herself sound sophisticated. They were trying to break her out of this habit while still encouraging her to expand her vocabulary. It was a fine line to walk and a work in progress.

Phil ignored the teaching moment. It was too early in the morning, he was not in the mood to deliver a lecture.

“That’s nice, love. Where’d you learn that word from?” He asked.

“It’s the word of the day, Pa. Did you forget the word of the day?” She grinned cheekily.

“I did indeed.” He gave her a grave look.

“And do you remember the punishment for forgetting the word of the day?” Her grin got bigger.

“I don’t think there was a punishment.” He pretended to cower away from her.

“There was! There was!” She shrieked and launched herself at him, digging her bony elbows and knees into him in a brave attempt to tickle him.

Phil overcame her with some difficulty and gripped her arms in his hands. “But I don’t think you get to dish out the punishment today, Ms. Lester. Today’s my day. Prepare for my wrath.”

He let out a loud hyena laugh and was about to go in for the victory belly tickle when Dan woke up.

“What are you doing up at fuc--fudging eight in the morning on a Sunday you godless fiends?” Dan asked, letting out a huge yawn which sent both Phil Tessa into uncontrollable bouts of laughter.

Dan stared them down sternly till they calmed down enough to speak. “Am I boo boo the fool?”

“Yes.” Both of them answered in unison.

“Right that’s it. Punishments for both of you. Punishments all around.” He said before pinning them both to the bed and tickling them mercilessly.

They were all red in the face and breathing heavily by the time it was over.

Phil felt happy. Happy and exhausted. He felt his eyes closing of their own accord. Dan was up, he was free to get some sleep now.

He turned to Dan and mouthed at him, “Feed her, please.”

Dan nodded and picked her up. “Let’s go get some food, love. Pa’s tired.” Dan said, leaning down to kiss Phil on the forehead.

Tessa went willingly. Phil buried himself under the blankets and prepared for a couple of hours of blessed sleep.

“I want to be a lexicographer when I grow up.” Phil heard them going down the stairs.

“Do you now? And what’s that, love?”

“Papa didn’t know either…” Their voices faded.

Phil smiled and closed his eyes. Her voice resonated in his mind as he gave in to the syrupy drowsiness.

**Author's Note:**

> [link to fic on tumblr](https://megiaolf.tumblr.com/post/171724853299/word-of-the-day-series-this-is-a-series-im)   
> 


End file.
